Photo Credit - US Department of Transportation
Rising costs have put a long-anticipated project in Sheboygan on the back burner.
At tonight’s (November 3rd) Marina, Parks, and Forestry meeting, one item on the agenda will be a memorandum submitted by City Administrator Casey Bradley to pause further action on the proposed Sheboygan River movable pedestrian bridge project.
The project had been under consideration since 2005, and design plans began once the project received a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2022.
The plans originally estimated a cost of $6.7 million, with $5 million coming from the RAISE Grant; however, in the time since, prices have skyrocketed.
City Administrator Bradley explained, “Recent engineering design work and revised projections now place anticipated construction costs at over $12 million, driven largely by significant inflation in construction costs.”
To close, Bradley added, “Advancing the project would require issuing debt that would be placed on the general tax base- something city staff and officials do not support.”
While the project has been put on hold, the RAISE Grant funds will remain untouched in the event prices come back down and the bridge is approved to move forward.
